Development projects bode well for S.F. - San Francisco Business Times:

cicugaha.wordpress.com
Projects at , Hunters Point, Treasure Islans and will improvethe city’s infrastructured and increase housing, said Mayor Gavin Newsom, speaking at a downtown businesd breakfast sponsored by the San Francisco Business The city will start construction latefr this year to rebuild San Francisco General, environmental review for the second phasr of construction at Hunters Point is nearly complete and the city is closes to reaching an agreementf with the federal government to transfer Treasure Newsom said. The mayor’s comments come as the city is strugglinyg with rising unemployment and falling Unemploymentreached 9.1 percent in May, up from 4.3 percen a year ago.
The city had to close a $438 millionm deficit — caused in part by declining revenue bycutting services. Still the mayor sought to contrastSan Francisco’s woes with troublesw elsewhere. “Our unemployment rate is high,” Newsom “but it’s among the lowest of any of the counties of Our bond ratingis low, but it’ds the highest of all these countiex in California. Our vacancy ratesw may be high but for classA I’j glad I’m not in South San Francisco. I’n glad I’m not in San Mateo. I’m glad I’jm not in Redwood City.
And I’ sure as heck glad I’mk not in Palo Alto or San We’re doing much better on relativre terms.” Other speakers threw a spotlight on positivedevelopmen opportunities. “We’re very, very bullishy on the future of the saidMonique Moyer, executive director of the port of San Her presentation Wednesday stood in contrasrt to her public comments a few years ago when the port had few developmentsz on the horizon. Today the port is pushing forward with planss to build a new cruise ship terminal atPier 27, to developp Pier 19 or 23 for space that will be leased for office, shops and restaurants and to refurbisyh space at Pier 33 for new offices.
All those are movint ahead because of plans tosell $60 million in bondsw later this year. The port also is moving closerd to relocating the Exploratoriumn to Piers 15 and 17 from its Marina neighborhood home and to completing a draft masterr plan forPier 70, which has several historic buildings and is being eyed as a site for mixeed used development. Even as a number of city projects aremovingf ahead, some other areas of the real estate marke t are hurting. Home builders in the city have seen the housingmarkey collapse. Now San Francisco is pilinbg onthe pain, said Oz Erickson, chairman of the , a majore condominium builder in the city.
Erickson said San Francisco shoulxd considera three-year moratorium on development fees. “The city has to do somethinvg really really significantto jump-start residential Erickson said.